March Madness Revisited

Once again another year approaches when more than 150,000 applicants vie for the 65,000/- H-1B visa quotas per year. Once again, us immigration lawyers are scrambling to get petitions ready to be fedexed to the Vermont and California Service Centers on March 31, so that they reach on April 01. If they reach on March 31, the Citizenship and Immigration Service will reject them as too early, if they reach on April 02, it will be too late. The more than 150,000 that reach on Apriul 01, will be entered into a lottery system and the lucky 65,000 will get the visa.

Once again, for years now, Bill Gates urges the Congress to increase the quotas on H-1B. Yet it falls on deaf ears. The H-1B category is for “Professionals” of which US has a tremendous demand. These professionals help us stay productive and competitive in the world economy of today.

We champion free market enterprise, yet we do not allow free flow of skilled labor to meet the demands of a free market economy. We are governed by Xenophobia and hamper our economy by unreal restrictions and baseless wars.